Sher-Sagi Plan (2002)

Date

People

Share

A draft plan for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and most of the West Bank, with the goal of determining the final borders of the country independently of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The document was published by the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem in August 2002, and based on research work by a team led by retired IDF general Uri Sagi and former negotiator Gilead Sher. The proposal suggests a two-phase process whose goal is to promote a permanent settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along the lines of US President George Bush’s Vision for Peace. The first phase, with a time frame of 18 months, would entail the completion of the West Bank Separation Barrier and the evacuation of a small number of Israeli settlements. The second phase, put into operation in case the first phase didn’t lead to successful bilateral negotiations, would involve the relocation of all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, as well as West Bank settlements outside the large settlement blocs, to Israel, while introducing an international force into the evacuated territories.